A
day after NATO attacked a border post killing 24 Pakistan troops,
angry
men burn a photo of President Obama and an unidentified NATO
general.
While NATO now claims its soldiers were fired upon first, the
attacks
have further enraged the Pakistan public, where pressure is
growing
to completely sever ties to the United States.
The Nation, Pakistan
Cost of Friendship with America is Far Too High
"It
is Pakistan’s turn to turn down NATO's blandishments and reject an alliance that
comes at such a high cost of blood from its soldiers. The pretext that the
incident occurred because the helicopters were chasing insurgents must be
exposed as the lie that it is."
One among many in Pakistan burning American flags today, after a deadly NATO helicopter attack on a check point near the Afghanistan border killed 24 Pakistan troops, Nov. 29.
NATO's unprovoked helicopter
raid on a checkpost in Mohmand Agency in the wee hours of Saturday killed 24
sleeping Pakistani troops. The reaction of the Pakistani people continues to be
strong, with protests breaking out across the country since the attack on Sunday. Such
demonstrations coincide with others around the world, all of which highlight not
just for Pakistan but for the entire globe the high cost of being a friend to
the United States. With China and the Organisation
of Islamic Cooperation joining the chorus and supporting Pakistan, the global
condemnation is proof positive that the incident was a very serious violation -
if any more were needed,.
The United States and NATO
have sought to put a positive spin on the incident. Not because the NATO pilots
were right, but because Pakistan halted military cooperation- cooperation that
is essential for the continued occupation of Afghanistan by American forces. Among
those calling Pakistan to have its decision reversed were U.S. Secretaries of
Defense and State, Leon
Panetta and Hillary
Clinton, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey, ISAF
Commander General John
Allen and NATO Secretary General Fogh Rasmussen.
Now it is Pakistan’s turn to
turn down such blandishments and reject an alliance that comes at such a high
cost of blood from its soldiers. The pretext that the incident occurred because
the helicopters were chasing insurgents must be exposed as the lie that it is. This
is a pretext that readily feeds groundless fears about the Haqqani Network and
ignores that the incident occurred in a pacified area bereft not only of Haqqani
Network members, but any resistance fighters at all. Facing defeat at the hands
of an ill-equipped and badly-armed opposition in Afghanistan and led astray by arrogance,
it is almost beyond doubt that NATO is groping for excuses to explain away its
mistakes.
Pakistan has a record of
giving in to NATO's blandishments. When it cut NATO's Afghanistan supply lines
last year, it restored them after accepting NATO's apology. Islamabad should
not make the same mistake this time. It should stand firm. In fact, it should
go a few steps further and end its alliance with the U.S. and all participation
in its War on Terror. And it should make clear to all, particularly the U.S.
and NATO, that Pakistan will brook no further interference or foreign presence
in the region. That goes especially for a presence that is so inimical to
indigenous forces.
The government must pay
careful attention to the fact that outrage against the killing of our troops is
so strong that any attempt to carry on business as usual will turn public
attention (and anger) away from NATO, where it is now, to the government. Beset
by crises as it is, Islamabad can't afford to allow that to happen.
